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Fringe right-wing network One America News on Tuesday lost its appeal in its libel lawsuit against MSNBC and star host Rachel Maddow, with a panel upholding a previous federal court ruling against OAN that required them to pay $ 250,000 legal costs of the defendants.
OAN, owned by Herring Networks, initially sued Maddow for $ 10 million in July 2019 after the MSNBC star said on his show that Trump’s promotion network was “paid Russian propaganda,” calling his comments ” malicious and totally false ”.
Maddow’s comments, however, were based on a story from the Daily Beast detailing how OAN employs Kristian Rouz, a reporter who simultaneously worked for Kremlin-owned media outlet Sputnik, a well-known supplier of Russian-backed propaganda. Lawyers for MSNBC, meanwhile, argued that Maddow’s remarks were “a protected opinion based on disclosed facts,” adding that his comment “specifically stated” that the OAN reporter was being paid by Sputnik.
In May 2020, a judge dismissed OAN’s libel suit, with US District Judge Cynthia Bashant ruled that there was no set of facts that could support a defamation claim based on Maddow’s statement. . The judge also noted that OAN never alleged that the facts of the Daily Beast story were libelous and did not dispute any of the underlying facts, which Madow presented on his program.
After MSNBC and Maddow later asked the right-wing channel to pay $ 350,000 in legal fees, the court finally dismissed the case last February and awarded MSNBC and Maddow a total of $ 247,667.50.
At the time of the February decision, however, NAO President Charles Herring said he was confident he would win the appeal, saying he was “happy that the [legal] the costs were reduced ”by the court.
“The case is currently on appeal and we are confident that we will receive a favorable and fair ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit,” he added. Herring’s appeal was also based on the district court ruling in favor of Maddow’s anti-SLAPP motion against OAN.
Not only was this not the case on Tuesday, but OAN may actually have to pay more in legal fees due to the slow process in the courts.
In a detailed decision dividing all of Herring Network’s legal arguments, the federal appeals court upheld the district court’s judgment to strike OAN’s complaint under California’s anti-SLAPP laws and dismiss the libel suit of the chain with prejudice.
“As to the substance, the panel found Maddow’s statement to fall well within the bounds of what qualified as protected speech under the First Amendment,” the court ruling said. “The contested statement was an obvious exaggeration, supplemented with undisputed reporting. The statement could not reasonably be understood to imply an assertion of objective fact and, therefore, did not constitute defamation. “
The panel further added that “the district court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the complaint without leave to modify because Herring never requested a modification, and if he had, the modification would have been futile “.
This is not the only bad legal news the NAO has received in recent days. Dominion Voting Systems recently filed a $ 1.3 billion libel suit, alleging that the network deliberately peddled false allegations that the company’s voting machines rigged the election against Donald Trump. The network recently doubled its efforts to push electoral fraud plots, promoting and ensuring uninterrupted live coverage of the “cyber symposium” hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who is also sued by Dominion.
OAN did not immediately respond to a request for comment. MSNBC declined when reached by The Daily Beast.
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